The June 12 election which was annulled or cancelled would have earned
IBB a permanent historical compliment based on its wide acceptance,
but the annulment or cancellation of that election turned around to
earn him what now seems alike a permanent historical tag of an evil
genius.

In that event, two significant things occurred.
1. Conducting what the entire country and world accepted to be the
best election in the history of Nigeria.
2. Annulling or cancelling what the entire country believes to be valid.

It is worth to note that, All over the world, it is believed that
every human want to strive to be the best in life, especially people
with political and leadership zeal and orientation, they want to be
remembered for good in history for their leadership contribution. It
is my profound opinion that, General Ibrahim Babangida in pursuance of
historical remembrance in positive light, conducted what the entire
world adjudged to be the most free, fair and peaceful election in the
history of Nigeria.

IBB as he his fondly called captured this in these words, ‘’ History
will bear witness that as an administration, we have always striven,
in all our policy decision, to build the foundation of lasting
democracy. Lasting democracy is not temporary show of excitement and
manipulation by an over-articulated section of the elite and its
captive audience, lasting democracy is a permanent diet to nurture the
soul of the whole nation and the political process’’.

This confirms my believe that, every visionary leader is constantly
in search of good name in history, by doing what he or she deem fit to
advance his historical pursuit. However, in the course of pursuing
this dream, it is always better to set aside our personal pursuit for
a collective good even if it means losing our personal pursuit, but
only selfless leaders can do that.

If general Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), having conducted an election that
would likely earned him his desired positive light in Nigerian
history, decided to annul or cancel the election for reasons which
said,’’ he was compelled to nullify the election because of security
threats to the enthronement of a democratic government at that time’’,
I believe Nigerians over the years are supposed to use the
opportunity of this June 12 remembrance to review our ever critical
observation and look deep into the worries of IBB that made him
jeopardise a juicy historical relevance to assume the status of a
villain.

In his annulment speech, IBB stated that, I feel, as I believe
yourself feel, a profound disappointment at the outcome of our last
efforts at laying the foundation of a viable democratic system of
government in Nigeria. Knowing that his action would place him in dark
light of history which he found less important as his reason for the
annulment and its consequence, he added that, ’It is true that by
cancelling the presidential election, we all found the nation at a
peculiar bar of history which was neither bargained for, nor envisaged
in the reform programmes of transition as enunciated in 1986/87.’’‘In
the circumstance, the administration had no option than to respond
appropriately to the unfortunate experience of terminating the
presidential election.’’

IBB who stated clearly that his interest first lies in the unity of
the country, along with the enthronement of lasting democracy noted
that, ‘’To continue action on the basis of the June 12 election, and
proclaim and swear in a president who encouraged a campaign of divide
and rule among our ethnic groups would have been detrimental to the
survival of the third republic.

Having carefully analysed the event of the June 12 election and the
later events, It is my believe that, the annulment of the June 12
election was beyond the self-interest of IBB alone, it is above
personal commitment to advance selfish desire, but it rather look like
a patriotic action which may have been better handled to correct the
mistakes or some hidden truth is still yet to be revealed.

Explaining the reason for the annulment citing instances, IBB in the
annulment speech said, ‘’you would recall that it was precisely
because the initial presidential primaries of last year (1992) did not
meet the basic requirements of free and fair election that the Armed
Forces Ruling Council had good reason to cancel those primaries. The
recently annulled presidential election was similarly affected by
these problems.

He noted that, Even before the presidential election and indeed at the
party conventions, the Armed forces Ruling Council had full knowledge
of the bad signals pertaining to the enormous breach of rules and
regulations of democracy elections, but because we were determined to
keep faith with the deadline of 27th august, 1993 for the return of
civil rule, we overlooked the reported breaches. Unfortunately, these
breaches continued into the presidential election of June 12, 1993 on
an even greater proportion.

He further added that, there were allegation of irregularities and
other acts of bad conduct levelled against the presidential
candidates, but the National Election Commission (NEC) went ahead and
cleared the candidates. Adding that, there were proofs as well as
documented evidences of widespread use of money during the party
primaries as well as the presidential election. These were the same
bad conduct for which the party presidential primaries of 1992 were
cancelled, adding that, Evidence available to government put the total
amount of money spent by the presidential candidates as over two
billion, one hundred million naira (N2.1billion). The use of money was
again the major source of undermining the electoral processes. He
said.

Some citizens who would have reasoned with IBB on the reason for
annulling the election begin to wonder, if the government had these
information prior to the election, why didn’t it correct it? But IBB
explained that, these allegations and evidences were known to the
national defence and security council before the holding of the June
12,1993 election, but these area were overlooked in nits determination
to fulfil the promise to hand over to an elected president on due
date.

It is worth to note that, the IBB regime had long over stayed its
welcome, it had on several occasions promised to hand over to civilian
administrators without doing so. For this reason, it is expected that
the people would not reason with the government on whatever reason
they gave if the date of the election were to be changed or cancelled,
hence the continuation of the process as scheduled.

I believe the government is also scared of creating the wrong
impression which would give the impression that it is not interested
in handing over on the earlier scheduled date which may have created
greater problem in the country.

After the election has been annulled, IBB restated the commitment of
his administration to hand over government on the scheduled date, but
maintained that the errors which lead to the annulment of the election
be corrected. In his words,’’ our actions are in full conformity with
the original objective of the transition to civil programme. It is
also in conformity with the avowed commitment of the administration to
advance the cause of national unity, stability and democracy. In
annulling the presidential election, this administration was keenly
aware of its promise in November,1992 that it would disengage and
institute a return to democracy on august 27,1993. We are determined
to keep the promise. Since this ‘transition and indeed any transition
must have an end, I believe that our transition programme should and
must come to an end, honestly and honourably.

To clear the impression that it is not handing over, IBB maintained
that the handing over would take place as scheduled, which would give
the interim government an opportunity to conduct another election that
would correct the negative indices observed in the annulled election.

Another major reason for the annulment according to IBB is money
inducement and moral issues. He said, ‘’Apart from the tremendous
negative use of money during party primaries and presidential
election, there were moral issues which were also overlooked by the
defence council. There were cases of documented and confirmed conflict
of interest between the government and both presidential aspirants
which would compromise their position and responsibilities were they
become president.’’

President Babangida also maintained that, it is true that the election
is was generally seen to be free, fair and peaceful. However, there
was in fact a huge array of election malpractices virtually in all the
states of the federation before the actual voting began. There were
authentic reports of the election malpractices against party agents,
officials of the national electoral commission and also some members
of the electorates.

‘’If all these were clear violation of these electoral, there were
proofs of manipulation through offer and acceptance of money and other
forms of inducements against officials of the national electoral
commission and members of the electorates. There `was also evidence of
conflict in the process of authentication and clearance of credentials
of presidential candidates. Indeed, up to the last few hours to the
election, we continued in our earnest steadfast with our transition
deadline to overlook vital facts. ’He said

But one fact I have deduced from the annulment of the June 12 election
is that, even though it is seen by many as free, fair and peaceful,
the man who conducted what is seen as free, fair and peaceful feels
otherwise, and based on his conviction, he believed the election
failed to meets its stated objectives. While noting the failure of the
election to meet the objectives which can be seen in the lay down
rules and regulation, the IBB government said it didn’t annul the
election based on these failure alone, it instead try to overlook the
failures several times hoping that it can be corrected over time.

But what the government could not overlook in the election
malpractices according to IBB was the threat to national unity and
security. This is the major reason for the annulment based on the
government position and it is seen in these words ‘’to continue action
on the basis of the June 12 election, and proclaim and swear in a
president who encouraged a campaign of divide and rule among our
ethnic groups would have been detrimental to the survival of the third
republic.

Furthermore, Many who were present during the election also confirmed
that the reasons given for the annulment of the election actually
occurred, they agreed that there was offer and acceptance of money at
the election poll, they agreed that there were reports of intimidation
of agents, they agreed also that, there was sectional campaign in the
course of the electioneering, they also agreed that, they were other
election malpractices in form of rigging in some quarters, though,
they disagree with the annulment for what they say, the reasons does
not worth the annulment.

To me, this reason, if it is actually the main reason for the
annulment is worthy of note.
However, today, citizens across the country continue to talk about the
state of the nation, which span from the evil election malpractices of
the People Democratic Party (PDP) since the beginning of the fourth
republic in 1999, followed by that of the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN) in some states along with others.

The Nigerian opposition parties of today both in states and nations
elections; if it had the power will annul or support the annulment of
the elections that brought President Goodluck Jonathan and Former
president Umaru Musa Yar’adua into power respectively, as well as
other state elections. It is such a regret that what was said to be
the reason for annulling an election 20 years ago is still predominant
in our political process today 20 years after, yet, we continue to
condemn the government which tries to point out these facts to us for
our national good. The reason for opposition today’s wish for
annulment is simple, electoral fraud and malpractices ranging from
rigging, agent intimidation, and money politics etc. If IBB who is in
the position to either uphold the June 12 election and gain historical
fame as the man who conducted the most free, fair and peaceful
election or annul it, based on similar reasons why we seek for today’s
election be cancelled, I think the castigation of IBB for annulling
the June 12 election 20 years ago for the same reason for what we wish
to be done today should take a setback and we should promote critical
analysis of lessons to be learnt instead of playing the blame game 20
years after.

The 4 major reasons for annulling the June 12 election as stated by
IBB include: Election Malpractices, Rigging, Offer and acceptance of
money and Sectional Campaign which threatens the unity of the country.

You will agree with me that today, all these four reasons threaten the
unity and existence of our dear nation. It threatens the pursuit of
good governance and development and of course, the unity and
advancement of democratic principles.

In conclusion, If the reasons for annulling the June 12 election was
addressed after IBB, If Mashood Kashimawo Abiola (MKO) hadn’t went to
South Africa to declare himself president of the federal republic of
Nigeria against the Abacha Military Government that took over, If we
had concentrated on solving the mistake of June 12 and corrected the
reason for its annulment, if we had carefully let patriotism prevail
over sectionalism, if we had insisted on following the lay down rules
and regulations, if we had discouraged money politics and the
intimidation of oppositions, if we had allowed reason to prevail over
sentiments, if we had followed the rule of law and due process, may
be, just maybe, the June 12 annulment would have served as a positive
antidote, may be, just maybe, it would have helped Nigeria attain the
status of a sane nation, where democratic principle would be practiced
like the rest of the developed world.

Although, the June 12 annulment is regrettable, but I have just learnt
that, it is in the past and would always remain so. What lesson have
we learnt from it? Blame? Have we corrected the reasons for annulment
as stated by IBB? What are we doing about it 20 years after? How do we
remove them from our polity and how do we prevent it reoccurrence?
These and many more question should be our priority now, we should
continue to search for the answers and apply them accordingly. If we
do that, that will be the best way to remember June 12 correctly.

Abdulrazaq O Hamzat
08076976917
Discus4now@gmail.com

Let me say at the outset that no one in government is supportive of a Nigeria that returns to a high state of indebtedness. On a personal note, having gone through tremendous stress during the quest for Paris Club debt relief, I am committed to a Nigerian economy that is fiscally prudent, balances its books and remains at a low state of indebtedness.

To begin, Nigeria’s overall debt is comprised of external and domestic debts. The external debt is typically owed to foreign creditors such as multilateral agencies (for example, the Africa Development Bank, the World Bank, or the Islamic Development Bank), to bilateral sources (such as the China Exim Bank, the French Development Bank or the Japanese Aid Agency), or to private creditors such as investors in our Eurobonds. The domestic debt, however, is contracted within Nigerian borders, usually through bond issues which are then purchased by Nigerian banks, local pension funds, and other domestic and foreign investors. The resources raised typically go to help fund the budget or other domestic expenditures, such as infrastructure projects. We also have some contractor arrears, and other local liabilities which are normally handled through the budget.

Both federal and state governments borrow domestically and externally. However, no state government can borrow externally unless guaranteed by the Federal Government. Similarly, state governments’ domestic borrowing is subject to federal government analysis and confirmation – based on clear criteria and guidelines that a state can repay based on their monthly FAAC allocations and internally generated revenues (IGR).

As a nation, we have had a difficult history with debt. As such, no one can forget the challenging times we went through from 2003 to 2005 trying, in the end, successfully to get relief on our large external debt. Neither the government nor any Nigerian wants a repeat of the country’s past history of large debts. That is why the current President Goodluck Jonathan administration, the Legislature, the Ministry of Finance, and the Debt Management Office, are very focused on a conservative and prudent approach to managing the national debt. Our current approach balances Nigeria’s needs for investment in physical and human infrastructure with a strong policy to limit overall indebtedness in relation to our ability to pay. Above all, any debts incurred must go for directly productive purposes which yield results that Nigerians can see.

First the numbers:

a. In 2004, prior to the Paris Club debt relief, Nigeria’s overall debt stock was very high. External debt stood at US$35.9 billion while the stock of the domestic debt amounted to US$10.3 billion resulting in a total of about US$46.2 billion or 64.3% of GDP excluding contractor and pension arrears.

b. After the successful debt relief initiative, Nigeria’s stock of foreign debt declined dramatically. Indeed, in August 2006, when I left office, Nigeria’s foreign and domestic debts amounted to US$3.5 billion and US$13.8 billion respectively – a total of US$17.3 billion or 11.8% of GDP.

c. By August 2011, when I resumed for the second time as Finance Minister, the domestic debt stock had grown substantially to US$42.23 billion, while the external debt was still a modest US$5.67 billion. This implied a total debt stock of US$47.9 billion or 21% of GDP. Note that while the debt stock grew, our national income also grew so that debt to GDP ratio (the parameter used globally to measure a country’s debt sustainability) remains modest and manageable.

d. Thus, the key noticeable change in Nigeria’s indebtedness in recent years has been the growth of domestic debt. There were two main reasons which resulted in this outcome. First, the initial growth of the domestic debt stock was because the federal government wanted to deepen the domestic debt markets and generate a yield curve for Nigeria which ultimately could help our corporate bodies to access the capital markets and borrow funds at more affordable rates. The DMO through its work has been successful in doing this.

Nigerian corporates can now raise money at reasonable rates at home and abroad, helping them secure resources to invest in the economy. Secondly, however, domestic debt was also raised to finance increased budget expenditures including consumption. For example, in 2010, the 53% salary increase for civil servants was financed by raising domestic bonds. Borrowing for recurrent expenditure or consumption, as was the case here is a practice that is less than ideal and one that we should endeavour not to repeat. We must learn that domestic debt should be incurred sparingly at modest and manageable rates so that government is able to service it and pay back domestic creditors. Failure to do so would severely undermine the finances of our private and institutional creditors to the detriment of the economy.

It is with this background in mind that we have put in place several measures to limit and manage the national debt. There are a number of specific policies we have introduced in the current administration to slow down the increase in our overall debt stock.

a. First, we have brought expenditures and revenues much more in line, through a low fiscal deficit of 1.81% GDP, to reduce the need for domestic borrowing. For example, we reduced annual domestic borrowing from N852 billion in 2011, to N744 billion in 2012, and to N577 billion in 2013. Our objective is to reduce government’s domestic borrowing to below N500 billion in the 2014 budget.

b. Second, for the first time, we have paid down part of our domestic debt rather than rolling all of it over. Beginning in February 2013, we successfully retired N75 billion worth of maturing domestic bonds. And we will continue with this practice in the coming years.

c. Third, we have established a sinking fund with an initial capitalisation of N25 billion. This fund will enable the government to retire maturing bond obligations in the future.

d. Fourth, we are working increasingly with states to get a clearer picture of domestic debts acquired by state governments, thanks to the comprehensive review recently completed by the DMO. Our particular concern is that state governments limit borrowings in line with their incomes and put any borrowings made to work on specific projects and programmes that bring direct beneficial results to their citizens.

e. Fifth, instead of the previous practice of contracting foreign loans in an ad hoc manner, we have streamlined the process for federal and state governments and made it transparent through the Medium Term Rolling External Borrowing Plan, which is reviewed and approved by the National Assembly. This plan presents the anticipated loans to be contracted by the government over a three-year time window, so that we can target funds to priority projects, and also make trade-offs where necessary. Notice that this covers planned foreign borrowing by both the federal and state governments for projects that will yield results in infrastructure, education, health, etc. Most loans contracted are on concessional or very favourable terms. For example, many of the multilateral loans are at zero interests, 40-year maturity, and 10 years grace. Others are at less than three per cent rate of interest.

f. And finally, we have put forward a Medium-Term Debt Strategy with a mix of limited external and domestic borrowing that is appropriate for the economy.

But let me repeat that we shall never be complacent about our national debt. We need to be constantly vigilant to limit the amount of debt and create room for the private sector instead to borrow. As such, we need to stay focused on three main priorities.
First, we should continue to monitor our external borrowing and ensure that we do not slip back to our high indebtedness prior to the debt relief programme. As I mentioned earlier, the External Borrowing Plan, helps to address this concern by ensuring that we always have a comprehensive, transparent view of our foreign borrowing. As at now, our external indebtedness is low at $6.67 billion or about three per cent of GDP.

Second, we should closely continue to monitor and limit our domestic debt, and ensure that it stays within a prudent and conservative range. We should pay off debt that is due to the extent of our ability.
And third, we should also continue to closely monitor borrowing by states to ensure that the debt burdens of our state governments remain within manageable levels and that borrowings are applied to specific projects that yield results for citizens of the state. In that regard, we enjoin banks and other lenders to be careful and prudent when lending to ensure that this is done within the existing rules, regulations and guidelines.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan once said: “Information and knowledge are central to democracy – and they are the conditions for development.” That is precisely why I have gone to some length to throw light on the real facts and the real issues regarding our debt situation and what the federal government is doing to address them. We need to create the basis to have a healthy and constructive public conversation on this issue, not a distorted and partisan battle.

• Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance.

We are forced to acknowledge that there is a government in place when we have to slow down or even stop and park our cars on our generally damaged and badly patched roads because a convoy of cars, lead by annoying sirens is taking one public officer or another to heavens knows where. We remember that there is a government in place when open our newspapers, turn on our TVs and we have to cringingly wade through the self-serving parochial insipid declarations of this or that Honourable or Excellency and their cohorts before getting to any form of useful or informative news item.
In the month they have chosen to celebrate and reflect upon democracy, those ruling this country have acted in such indecorous ways and made such ridiculous declarations that tempt one to ask on which planet, in which century are these people living in? And to wonder if there is effectively something wrong with Nigeria and if it can ever be truly well with the country. But then again, there is nothing wrong with Nigeria, the only problem is leadership; those ruling the country are simply proving Chinua Achebe right when he insightfully noted that “There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example, which are the hallmarks of true leadership”.

Take the ruling Governors for example, a group of 36 men (made up of all the major political parties in the country) called Excellency and on top of that lavishly paid for representing and managing the affairs of their states that contains about 160 million people and budgets worth billions and billons of naira, quite a role you would say. Well 35 of these men could not get together to calmly and clearly elect a chairman for their own forum. No, they had to shout foul, accuse each other of rigging, generate debates about the difference between endorsement and vote, dissect loyalty, promise battle, end up into factions and even creating another parallel governors’ forum with its own office and website. These rulers should not be surprised nor complain, if tomorrow some people from their states seriously consider these rulers as leaders and taking examples from their deeds, as followers should do, set up their own state and elect parallel Governors if for any reason their own candidate is not elected governor after elections.

What shall say we say of the ruling President of the federation and his team who, on their own democracy day, put us through a litany of achievements and reforms that most cannot follow because they have no electricity to watch the TV, that many cannot feel or see because it is not around them. Someone needs to tell these rulers that politics at its basic level might be perception, but governance is reality. Governance is neither emotional nor psychological; let there be light and you will not need to explain it, just fix the roads and you won’t need to say it. Lower interests rates for businesses, reduce their fiscal and bureaucratic encumbrance and watch them invest, expand and employ.

Not to be left out, the ruling party too has had to step into this on going national carnival of the absurd and pure embarrassment, the PDP and those ruling it came into the parade dancing to the tune of suspension. Suspend this, suspend that. Did it even occur to any of those ruling that party that they have never made headlines, let alone history for suspending or indeed taking any form of disciplinary action against their members for stealing, wasting or misusing public funds or even failing to implement the party’s manifesto. In that their newly found article 58 (a) to (z) of the PDP constitution so dear to the NWC, is there a part that says “Thou shall not steal or make sure you work hard”? The disagreements and confrontations of those ruling this country never seem to be on policy or ideology for the interest of their party, people or the country; they never seem to have serious debates about how to resolve one problem or another. They are just personal issues: who will be the next this or that? Who did not greet whom or did not respond to whose call or invitation?

As we step into this People’s Democracy week, it was worth taking a look at who is ruling at all levels and ask if these are kind of people we want there and if we believe they have what it takes to rule over 160 million people in this age and time.

They are reapers where they have not sown anything!

Going by the gargantuan amount of the country’s scarce resources spent on their wages and allowances, huge injuries are inflicted on the fragile economy as they take the place of millions of graduate in the ever shrinking Nigerian employment landscape.

Recently, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy began the process of weeding out ghost workers from the Nigerian Civil Service, an exercise which has saved the government billions of naira.

The ghost workers were detected through the biometric initiative undertaken by the Federal Government.

Okonjo-Iweala declared that it was shocking that the Federal Government had survived it this far considering the level of graft on the public payroll. During the last exercise, FG uncovers 46,821 ghost workers!

Accordingly, the minister said the biometric exercise would be pursued vigorously in the coming days with a view to plugging loopholes and to save funds for the government to deploy in critical areas of need.

In this light, Okonjo-Iweala hinted that the on-going public service realignment would be completed and agencies with duplicating functions merged to save cost of operations.

Imagine, after this initial weeding was completed, the sum of N118.9billion was saved!

Yes, you read that well! N118.9 billion has been paid to ghost workers in time past.

Annually, N118.9 billion has gone down into the pockets of our numerous ‘oga at the top’ who constitutes the entrenched interest the Finance Minister is battling to overrun.

Imagine how much development N118.9billion can bring to our nation that is bleeding on every side? Just imagine!

The world economic system is going through massive turmoil and tribulation, and this has affected our mono-economy of oil income. During the presentation of the 2013 budget, the Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonji Iweala reinstated the need for the nation to evolve with the changing times, in her words; “Against this backdrop of global economic uncertainty, the international natural resources map is also changing…’’

But while some individuals like the finance minister understand the fight before them, others in high places has continued to stand against the forces of change.

No doubt that the recent exercise by the ministry of finance to checkmate the overhead cost of government expenses using the biometric initiative to fish out ghost workers has been a major landmark in the bid to reduce expenses and create more revenue for the government, in the police pension scheme alone, over 1 billion naira was discovered to have been paid to ghost workers, in a scenario where the original cost involved was 500 million naira.

In spite of this great initiative to reduce government’s overhead cost through weeding out ghost workers, one sincerely hopes that old ghosts are not replaced by new ghosts!

I believe to ensure that this achievement is sustained and built on, we must be on alert ensuring that those determined to bring down this country are identified and shamed!

There is limit to a good and change an individual can bring! It must be a collective effort. Good policies like those made by the finance ministry of this great nation can only last through much we can do collectively!

Once again, let’s be on guard so that the ghost workers weeded away by NOI are not smuggled back with new ghosts!

Abdullahi M. Seidu is a public affairs enthusiast. He lives in Lagos.

When most people do contemplate on which American president is the best
and true friend of Africa. I bet you, Obama and Clinton will probably come
to their mind; the last person they that might think of is George W.
Bush, the 43rd president of America. People may find it hard to accept
that a Republican Party president was the one that extended a helping
hand to Africa at the darkest and heighten period of AIDS/HIV crisis. The
recorded history was the testament to the uncommon generosity offered by
George Bush who persuaded the US Congress to fund AIDS relief to combat
African greatest health crisis.

At the apogee of AIDS epidemic in Sub-Sahara Africa, due to poverty and
inadequate medical and health facilities to manage the AIDS crisis,
millions of Africans were dying. Therefore it became imperative that the
rising AIDS threat to the continent must be combated before it assumed an
explosive dimension and reaches a point of no return. And that was when
Bush came to the rescue and joined the fight to daunt the rising tide of
AIDS crisis in the world.

In 2003, President George W. Bush lunched “President’s Emergency Plan For
AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).” A relief fund to fight HIV/AIDS around the world
including Africa where AIDS have devastating and debilitating effects on
the people. Bush urged United States Congress to committee $15 billion
over five years (2003–2008) to fight and combat the deadly disease.

Again in 2005, former President George W. Bush lunched another program
known as Malaria Initiative. A five year commitment of $1.2 billion was
set aside to combat malaria disease in 15 African countries where malaria
has done the greatest damage to lives and wellbeing.

According to UNICEF, “Malaria is the leading cause of mortality among
children under the age of five in this West African nation Malaria still
kills 660,000 people every year, most of them African children.
Insecticide-treated bed nets are critical to eliminating deaths from
malaria—one of the leading killers of children in the world says UNICEF on
World Malaria Day. The number of bed nets in sub-Saharan Africa has
increased to 145 million thanks to bulk buying, joint procurement,
financing and extending manufacturing capacity. Since 2000, 1.1 million
lives have been saved from malaria, and malaria mortality rates in Africa
have declined by one-third.”

Bush made one of the greatest attempts to hold back AIDS crisis. He was
pragmatic and generous, without giving a lip service to the emerging
calamity in the continent. Bush was thorough a compassionate person, he
did not intellectualize nor become philosophical, rather he quickly acted
to save a generation of people that AIDS would have wasted and
annihilated.

Former President Jimmy Carter acknowledged Bush favorable African policy.
When it comes to helping the poor and needy around the world including
Africa, Carter is not a stranger in that area. Carter is authentic and
has the credentials on building houses, providing health care and relief
assistances to the poor and needy. Carter’s words are trustworthy and
bankable; at the dedication of George W. Bush Library, former President
Carter paid a glowing tribute to George W. Bush for his effectiveness and
compassionate role in Africa:

“In 2000, there was a disputed election for several weeks and finally when
President Bush became president they had the inauguration in Washington on
schedule. I think my wife and I were the only volunteer Democrats on the
platform. ..

The worst problem now is the war going on between North and South Sudan,
and millions of people have been killed and I would like for you to help
us have a peace treaty there. In a weak moment, he said I’ll do it. He
said well, I haven’t even chosen them yet, but give us three weeks. Three
weeks later, I came up. President Bush kept his promise. He appointed John
Danforth and a great general from Kenya. In January of 2005, there was a
peace treaty between north and south Sudan that ended a war that had been
going on for 20 years. George W. Bush is responsible for that.

That was the first of his great contributions to the countries in Africa.
As has already been mentioned, he increased his assistance to Africa until
the time he went into office to more than $90 billion. That’s an increase
of 640 percent. That is development assistance. He established a program.
There was 6,000 people being treated for HIV. Two million when he left
office. At this new institute he has a program called pick ribbon and red
ribbon. That is something that is dear to my heart and I know means a lot
to millions of people in Africa. I am filled with admiration for you and
deep gratitude for you. Thank you very much. “

Former President Bill Clinton said “I want to thank President Bush for
passing PEPFAR. No president of my party could have passed that through
the Congress, I have personally seen the faces of some of the millions of
people who are alive today because of it.”

As of July 2012, former President George W. Bush visited Zambia and
Botswana with his wife, former first lady Laura Bush to promote health
initiative on treatment and prevention of cervical and breast cancer.

Bob Geldof, the musician turned social activist of Live 8 Concerts have
in the past lavish praises on George Bush for his decisiveness in Africa,
his words: “I read it has been incompetent – but not in Africa. It has
created bitterness – but not here in Africa. Here, his administration has
saved millions of lives.”

While Bono an activist, the front man of musical group U2, spoke about
Bush contribution in combating AIDS: “It’s incredible; it’s incredible
what George Bush’s— President Bush’s name is in the history books. His
name is in the front foreword of a book that’s written on the end of
AIDS.” In another occasion Bono said to a crowd, “I know that’s hard
for you to accept but George kind of knocked it out of the park. I can
tell you, and I’m actually here to tell you that America now has five
million people being kept alive by these drugs. That’s something that
everyone should know.”

Before George Bush intervention, many of his African counterparts were
struggling on how to cope with the health crisis. Some African leaders
were giving the best they can to combat the disease but lack of fund and
health facilities made it nearly impossible to hold back the surging
disease.

Poverty was and continues to be greatest barrier to fighting AIDS in
Africa. Poverty translates into lack of information and education which
are the cornerstones for winning the battle against the deadly disease and
saving lives. Indifference among some African leaders played a detrimental
role in the consequential explosion of AIDS. These leaders were busy
mismanaging resources and siphoning money abroad, as their people were
suffering and dying. And it took an outsider without a personal or
strategic interest to intervene and saved lives in Africa.

It is important to remember this great dispensation of helping hand that
he aided to turn the tide in the struggle against HIV/AIDS. No one is
saying that the battle against the crisis has been won, but the emergency
fund from Bush’s America was successful in laying the foundation for the
war against the disease.

Former President George W. Bush was not obligated to offer a helping hand
but he did it anyway. What we can acknowledge here was that he did
something extraordinary without expecting anything in return. For this act
of great compassion, Africa is grateful and without doubt George W. Bush
was and continues to be a true friend of Africa. Thank You! Mr. President.

Emeka Chiakwelu, Principal Policy Strategist at Afripol. Africa Political
& Economic Strategic Center (AFRIPOL) is foremost a public policy center
whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy
debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise,
democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict
resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. www.afripol.org
info@afripol.org

In fact, the most closely guarded political secret that is indeed, no secret today, is the President’s will to be fielded by his party and re-elected President, come 2015. To achieve this goal, the President’s determination seems to know no bounds. He would even walk over corpses as a German adage would say. Yet he denies any intention to seek re-election publicly claiming to be consulting across the board to sample opinions. A pattern that is strongly reminiscent of the third term agenda of former President Obasanjo that the President denied until the bill got crushed at the National Assembly.

One way or the other, President Obasanjo survived this denting blunder and still remains a respectable domestic and international political personality till the present moment. Unfortunately, Dr. Jonathan does not have Obasanjo’s clout. There are justified doubts that he will ever end up as lucky.

While neutral observers largely agree that a goal is hardly ever achieved in politics without a fight, many are however stunned by the extent to which Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is presently taking his fight to achieve re-election in 2015. In fact, there is near unanimity of opinion amongst neutral assessors that this 2015 dream is a near-insurmountable challenge for the President given his present record and public perception.

Therefore every single time the President turns on the heat on opponents of this dream, he reveals to viewers from the outside that the opponents are growing stronger and have to be crushed. Each time the temperature is raised further to consume these same opponents, the world knows that the previous heat could not consume them. Further intensifications thereafter, simply serve to produce the image of a hopelessly frustrated and desperate President. Is Dr. Goodluck Jonathan unable to see these writings on the wall?

It seems to represent an element of the ensuing dynamics that the President is slowly drawn into a consuming labyrinth of manipulations when a single step simply refuses to snap. After all, all previous steps have functioned easily and effortlessly.

The removal of surrogates of the opponents from key party positions had gone very smoothly. The Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees was elected under the tele-guidance of the Presidency against fierce resistance from the opponent’s camp and party business now rests on the platform provided by the presidency. The ease with which the President took over the party machinery from his powerful opponents in these intra-party squabbles seems to have given him a taste of the power of incumbency. But it was only the easiest part of the game. Problems begin however, when one single nut in the continuum refuses to snap into place. Prudent postulants would normally return to the drawing board thereafter and begin to wonder if they are slowly beginning to bite more than they can chew.

Today however, incumbent President Jonathan has opened up a new front to fight Governors perceived to be disloyal to the private cause. Rightly or wrongly every issue affecting the most prominent Governor at the center of the running battle is promptly perceived as a dirty trick whether or not it is related to the political dispute with the President. The grounding of Governor Amaechi’s jet at a Nigerian airport for valid technical reasons of night flight precautions will be spontaneously seen by many as another presidential dirty trick to intimidate an opponent. The public perceives this and it is the public that votes in the President.

A new political coalition emerges and chooses the name All Progressives Congress (APC) waiting to be formally registered. All of a sudden, a group crops up to overtake it and declares its intention to register a party with the same abbreviation APC. A move that was aimed at frustrating the successful registration of the coalition since another party would have then been registered with the abbreviation before the coalition! The public takes note of this and registers a dirty trick looking over the shoulder straight at the Presidency, rightly or wrongly.

But how frustrated would a President be to then come out from nowhere and tell a discerning audience that he alone has the wherewithal to keep Niger Delta militancy in check and empower the reign of peace in the oil producing region? Media reports have very lately reported the Presidency as highlighting the dangers of the resurgence of Niger Delta militancy if this administration is ditched in 2015. Another mild expression of the possible replacement of Boko Haram with a resurgent MEND or the double jeopardy of both after 2015 if President Jonathan is not re-elected! The discerning public takes note and many shake their heads in endless disbelief.

Then all of a sudden, the public begins to hear hitherto unknown quantities reporting of an ex-President who ran a Killer squad and a Robbery squad and also had a hand in the assassination of Bola Ige – Nigeria’s former Minister of Justice. This, in fact, is an issue that I examined with sufficient attention in my book “Nigeria’s Journalistic Militantism”. Indeed any qualified journalist or mass communicator who watched this web TV and saw the highly unqualified toilet journalism that packaged the interview or read the subsequent article that summarizes the interview with two attention-seeking young men with a very poor sense of expressional articulation will know immediately that there is absolutely nothing in the brouhaha to be taken seriously. As viewers and readers comments in that childish website subsequently betray, the timing of these so-called revelations, the facts and the tele-guided journalistic questioning are all pointing to yet another dirty trick. The public takes note and keeps watching in dismay.

Not forgotten is yet the trouble of the oil sector. Troubles that were investigated assiduously albeit not without a dose of self-interest, by legislators led by Farouk Lawan! Findings were made and valid revelations too. But a very dubious and amateurish sting operation nabbed and exposed the Nigerian sense of greed in Farouk Lawan and all the findings and revelations were conveniently dumped in the waste bin of a President seeking re-election. The former no-nonsense Czar of the anti-corruption Commission EFCC was also drawn into the game to give it all he has and only ended up being conveniently rubbished by another highly coincidental procedural flaw uncovered by a subordinate member of his committee. The songs of dirty tricks have all been sung for times unending. Yet the public watches and it is the public that decides elections.

No one is in doubt that President Jonathan is aware of his very negative public image at home and abroad that will be a liability to any political party in any credible election. With a hand-picked party Chairman who has his own ambitions however, the President is not-surprisingly, being urged on by sycophants and dreamers with private agenda and political dreams.
Amid legitimate questions over tangible achievements by his government, the President does not sit up tight to achieve as much as he can in the remaining period of his tenure. No. He accuses the media of under-reporting his achievements.

So much has happened in governance to earn the President the title of “Mr. Clueless” that observers now seem to agree that President Jonathan’s governmental cluelessness has now been replaced by expertise in fighting opponents. But he was elected to govern and not to fight opponents.

Addressing the issue of consulting on 2015, the President has often cited the necessity of not being diverted from the business of governance through the politics of 2015 as a reason for not yet making up his mind in public. Yet the President stands out for having long thrown the business of governance overboard to concentrate on 2015 even though he had reportedly agreed to run just one term in the run-up to 2011.

Even one of the most credible, internationally-acclaimed brains in the administration who, hitherto has been considered by many as a hot presidential material has now been actively drawn into the business of telling petty lies to enhance the President’s standing. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had shamelessly posed before a world audience on CNN lately in a futile attempt to launder the overall image of the presidency and government’s achievements with one blatant lie. She downplayed the enormous consequences of corruption in Nigeria claiming that 99.9% of Nigerians are honest people with just 0.1% who are mischievously corrupt and hit the headlines all over the world.

Today, President Jonathan has commenced the process of irreparably destroying his party to sound the lesson of the consequence of his eventual demise in 2015. In other words, the party will be scattered if it fails to nominate him for re-election and he will not drown alone in the fecal pool of ominous stench. How far he also intends to take the corporate existence of Nigeria along with his doomed ambition is presently anyone’s guess.

If anything, the prediction of MEND’s resurgence will not portend good tidings. It is yet unclear that the insecurity of Boko Haram will be solved under his presidency. There is virtually no doubt that a faction of disgruntled elements would love to pick up arms again and fight the central government if the millions they presently earn in legally sanctioned brigandage are no more paid upon the demise of Jonathan. Combined with the raging violence of Boko Haram if not resolved soon, MEND resurgence will usher in the threat of a watershed civil war that may decide the fate of Nigeria.
With its high arsenal of nuisance weapon, the political architecture that has so far been constructed by the Okupe’s and the hungry Abatis under Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is recklessly strolling down the hellfire path without a care for the foreseeable consequences. All because a single man has grown an insatiable appetite for political power!

After all, political Nigeria had long witnessed strong popular hatred of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and thought no one could be hated more. If Nigerians now begin to consider it an insult on Olusegun Obasanjo to compare Goodluck Jonathan with the former President, then the alarm bells should be sounding very loud in Goodluck Jonathan’s inner circle. I received this post on Twitter just a few days ago:

“Can u compare obj to Gej? even dough obj is evil,this one is a demon.Frm looting to lawlessness to wickedness.”
Voices of reason will no doubt urge Jonathan to back down from 2015 NOW! After all, he has always left a back door open for an exit strategy by claiming that governance is more important to him than 2015. At the moment however, vested interests telling him that the opponents also have the choice of backing down are having the President’s ears. Dr. Jonathan will prefer to toe the most convenient line and probably lose sight of a dangerously bleak political future awaiting him if he fails to back down NOW

So, barbarism does not mean lack of knowledge, wealth or material efficiency. It is psychological, ethical and moral. Therefore, it is possible to strut around in Western tailored designer suit or expensive, exquisitely, tailored agbada and spout the Queen’s English, and still, be a barbarian. You can have academic degrees and professional honors and prance around the corridors of power and the hallowed chambers of law making, and remain a barbarian. Some travel in planes, own personal jets (like some Nigerian governors), and actually, pilot the jets themselves but are barbarians. You can hold sway from the pulpit of a sprawling church and enthrall thousands with your insightful oration on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be a barbarian.

In Lagos State, officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Brigade and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) posture as roving disciplinarians and experts in traffic control, respectively. Yet, despite their colorful uniforms and pretensions, their ranks are teeming with barbarians.

To go about the city of Lagos trying to “enforce discipline” is a pointless act. And to brutalize innocent and hapless individuals in the name of enforcing discipline is criminal. Without knowing it, the masses behave like their role models – the leaders. By their own behaviors, the power elite dictate the behavior of the masses. Nigerians are generally lawless, corrupt and greedy because our leaders are lawless, corrupt and greedy. To ignore the lawlessness and indiscipline of the Lagos State power elite (elected and appointed government officials and those in the highest echelon of the state bureaucracy) and then, unleash KAI officials to impose discipline on the masses is unvarnished hypocrisy. In their barbarism: cruelty, brutality, and viciousness, KAI officials behave as though they are yet to realize that the era of slavery is over.

LASTMA officials, like the officials of other government agencies, abuse their powers. They accuse motorists falsely, intimidate them and extort money from them. In addition, they have, shown lamentable disdain for human lives. They have, on a number of occasions, killed motorists for minor traffic offenses.
For example, on the 24 of December 2012, two LATSMA officials beat a 54 year old commercial bus driver, Isaac Popoola, to death. The two officials stopped Popoola’s bus, and ordered him to come down from his bus. He refused, demanding to know his offense. They refused to tell him his offense. And, evidently, incensed by his refusal to obey their order to step down from the bus, they “started beating him on the head with the iron of the seat belt and hitting his head against the steering and the door frame till he died”.

Again, at Motorways bus stop, along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, a bus conductor, popularly known as “Ilorin” was killed by LATSMA officials. The bus conductor was hanging at the door of the bus. In an attempt to stop the bus driver, a LASTMA official threw a metal object (wrench) at the bus. Unfortunately, the object missed the bus and hit the conductor, knocking him off the bus. As he fell off the bus to the road, a LASTMA pick-up van, which was trailing the commercial bus very closely, crushed him. The conductor died on the spot.

There have been other instances of LATSMA officials killing motorists. Extra judicial killing is deplorable under any circumstance. It may be excusable in very dangerous situations where law enforcement agents, in combating armed and dangerous criminals, are confronted with making on the spot decisions in defense of their own lives. But to kill an unarmed motorist for whatever reason is unpardonable. It is an egregious case of contempt for the human life – an unparalleled act of barbarism.

Please, Governor Fashola rein-in these barbarians. KAI officials should be reminded that the era of slavery is over. And as such, Nigerians citizens, though, poor, powerless and voiceless are not slaves and should, therefore, not be treated as such. They should know that assault is a criminal offense and that, as they go about beating up people, they are breaking the law. They should be taught to enforce the law without punching people in the face and kicking them in the stomach and groin and destroying their wares and stealing their money and goods. In other words, that, in their “enforcement of the law”, they should endeavor to treat Nigerians with respect and decency.

LASTMA officials should be taught to respect the sacrosanctity of the human life. It is thoughtlessness bordering on dementedness for a LATSMA official to think that due to his uniform, insignia and government assigned roles in traffic control that he can trifle with human lives. They should learn that no one life is superior to another. Every man “is a special thought of the Creator’s mind”. The life of a LATSMA official, Commissioner of Transportation and even, the state governor is not superior to that of a bus driver or a bus conductor. For any individual to feel superior to another is fantastic absurdity. And what ever it is that fuels that false feeling of superiority can only be rubbish, or at the very best, useless embellishment. Essentially, we are all equals assigned different roles in accordance to the will of God.

Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria
maciln18@yahoo.com
0803 529 2908

My problem is further compounded by the fact that I use quadruple Subscriber Identification Module, SIM, phone which is why I spend much of my productive time clearing my inbox of unwanted text messages to make room for important messages to come in. Yet this is not my only headache. Curiously, I find it extremely difficult to use the same quadruple SIM phone that seamlessly takes unsolicited automated calls and text messages from the four networks to reach anyone when the need arises.

Apart from drop calls, most times my calls do not connect due to poor network coverage. My text messages are either delayed or not delivered to intended recipients despite reports indicating that they are delivered. From my experience, there is nothing more disappointing than having more than a single mobile phone line yet one can’t be reached on any of them.

My experience is similar to what many Nigerians are passing through. A friend of mine once narrated how he tried unsuccessfully to load a voucher for almost two hours. Few minutes after he had given up, his mobile phone rang and he anxiously picked the call. Alas! It was an automated call from his service provider advertising some of its products and services. He expressed his frustration and said he could hardly understand how the same phone with which he could not successfully recharge or check his account balance was receiving unsolicited calls.

Similarly, one of my colleagues in the office narrated his experience with his service provider which brings the harsh reality of the challenge posed by network congestion to the fore. According to him, he called his friend, but was shocked to hear the recipient, supposedly his friend, speaking in Yoruba language. Confused, he promptly ended the call. Shortly after, he called the number and to his surprise the same thing occurred. It was at the third attempt he heard the voice of his friend at the end of the receiver. Obviously, my colleague was a victim of cross line calls, jammed calls or misdirected calls.

Sometimes, when a call is made, even when the number of the contact person or called party is correct, the call goes to another person, usually an unintended recipient. Although, this has been one of the hitches consumers have had to grapple with since the advent of the much-celebrated telecoms revolution, what is curious and equally painful is that these misdirected calls are billed despite the fact that the caller speaks with the wrong person. And millions of Nigerians, who have fallen victim to this fraud hardly have a reprieve.

Other cases of the sharp and consistent drop in the quality of telecoms services offered consumers across the networks apart from persistent call drops and delayed SMS delivery, include muffling of calls such that even when calls go through, one hardly hears what is being said and call hanging. Users of the popular BlackBerry and smart phones are not spared this agony. Subscribers across the networks are also screaming blue murder over billing irregularities as money is usually deducted from their accounts even when calls are not made.

In the heat of public outcry over the poor services and irregular billings by service providers, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), last year, wielded the big stick, directing all telecoms operators to provide instant SMS service to all phone users at the end of every call. Such SMS service is expected to provide full details of the cost of each call and available balance to the subscriber.

This directive, however, has not in any way halted the rip-off of the consumers as unbridled deduction of money from subscribers accounts has continued unabated.

In the light of these, my concern as well as those of my fellow Nigerians is that there is urgent need to halt the continuous defrauding of Nigerians and the deterioration of the quality of service provided by the GSM service providers across the country in order to give consumers value for their money. NCC has to impose stiffer penalties and sanctions on operators who default in accordance with the powers of the commission.

The need, still in 2013, to take extra care when it comes to anything Islamic is a burden not only on artists, actors, writers, thinkers or speakers but also to humanity as whole. As human beings, we have gained more from independent and rational thinking than from dogmas and rituals. Just as Christianity was, in the bad old days, a burden to the development and progress that comes from critical and analytical thinking, liberal initiatives and diversity of opinion and actions some centuries ago when the church had access to unlimited power and its leaders were accorded the status of infallible, so is Islam today, if unchecked or in the hands of unchecked bigots, a burden to development and progress. That might sound harsh, but it is simply true.

There is another Islamic burden that analysts and commentators have to bear: the conscious and continuous need to generalise. The “do not generalise” mantra is based on the idea that there are billions of good Muslims in the world so one should not equate the activities of some few violent or ignorant Muslims with the identity of Islam. Of course, we must not generalise, how can one disagree with such statement? That fact is so obvious that it risks turning into an excruciating truism. It is time to take the discussion to a higher level. Let us make it more exciting by asking ourselves some simple questions: how come out of those millions or so Orisa worshippers in the world, that Christians and Muslims scornfully call pagans, we do not have cases of just a few Orisa terrorists? Why is it that we do not have some few cases of Jehovah Witness terrorist?

We all need to share these burdens in a more equitable mode. There is no gentler way to put it; the simple truth is that more Islamic scholars and especially leaders, need to understand that there is a part of Islam that is still struggling in its bid to coexist with modern times. Just as Christian leaders and scholars have had to do in the past, Islamic scholars and leaders need to today come up with some theoretical elaborations and theological references that will deal with modernity or update their system, as my students will say. As Muhammad Iqbal puts it, “The task before the modern Muslim is therefore, immense. He has to rethink the whole system of Islam without completely breaking with the past…The only course open to us is to approach modern knowledge with a respectful but independent attitude and to appreciate the teachings of Islam in the light of that knowledge, even though we may be led to differ from those who have gone before us.”

For the endeavour of these leaders and scholars to work, Muslims of goodwill also have the burden of making a choice: embracing the modernists and isolating the bigots. Choosing is necessary but not sufficient, Muslims of goodwill also have the burden of engaging in some very well-defined actions that will make it clear that their own religion is different and against the practices of violent, selfish, and misguided bigots that preach hatred and engage in viciousness in the name of religion.
Examples abound to follow for those who really care; they can stand in support of and follow the teachings of the likes of Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, who in his 2010 Fatwa, not only gave a total condemnation violence but issued an “absolute” condemnation of terrorism, which he judged to be without “any excuses or pretexts”, he even went on to declare terrorism as kufr. There is, of course, our own Sheik Ahmad Mahmud Gumi, who in very clear terms has had the courage and lucidity to call the members of Boko Harem evil and asking all northerners to hound them.

We don’t need to wait for one more body to have the courage to call evil its name.

A lady in her early thirties lives with her senior sister. She worked as a cleaner in a private school and went to school part-time. She attended a Pentecostal church. Her pastor, who is also a “prophet”, knew that she earnestly desired marriage. So, he “prophesied” to her. According to his “prophesy”, she will, in a short while, meet a man whom God has designated to be her husband. In his “prophesy”, he revealed the man’s name and state of origin.

About two months later, a long time friend of the pastor, a shiftless, homeless and jobless man, appeared in the church. His name and state of origin were exactly as the pastor had “prophesied”. With the flippancy and suave of a con artist, he captivated the lady; and promised to marry her. He admitted being homeless but claimed to have a job. She was not overly concerned about the man’s antecedence and the details of his present life. After all, the man was God sent, and everything about the marriage and her prospective husband was unfolding according to the prophecy of her daddy in the Lord. She was ecstatic; rejoicing that God had finally answered her prayers.

The man leeched off her and her senior sister. Shortly, the lady became pregnant. With the lady pregnant, the next logical step, the lady and her family argued, was marriage. The man, with his slippery and serpentine parlance temporized (on marriage). On the day of her delivery, after a Caesarean operation, and with the woman in a coma and her hospital bills mounting, the “God anointed husband” vanished. Homeless, and of course, with no traceable place of residence, no one could locate him.

After the hospital bills were duly paid by the lady’s senior sister and the lady discharged from the hospital, he reappeared. Instead of money and provisions for the new born baby, he brought water in a bottle for the baby. The baby’s mother questioned his insistence on the baby drinking this “special water”. There was a heated argument between them, and the man vanished for the second and final time.

Disconcerted and dispirited, she adjusted to her new role as a single parent. With time, her daughter started school. After school, she was baby sat by a woman that runs a small store for about two to three hours before her mother gets off from work, and then, pick her up. One day after school, as the girl (now 6 year old) played around, she was gang raped by 3 grown men.

After the rape, as she ran out, crying and bleeding, her baby sitter realized what happened. She hushed her up and cleaned her up but neither notified the police nor told her mother. The girl told her mother about the rape. But, like many Nigerians, frightened by the inherent wickedness, insensitivity and oppressiveness of the Nigerian system, the mother did nothing. She did not confront the rapists, question the baby sitter or report the rape to the police. And, most terrifyingly, she did not take the girl for a medical check up because she could not afford it. The girl had a strange cough and complained of waist pain. Still, the mother did nothing.

On this given day, the young girl was in a gossipy mood and was telling her aunty (the mother’s senior sister) about another aunty. She said that her other aunty is not a “good girl” because she “allows boy to touch her”. At her work place, she was “hugging the boys” that work with her. Her aunty said it was okay for her other aunty to hug boys because she is a grown lady. But, as for her, who is still a small girl, no boy should touch her. She asked her if any boy has been touching her. She replied yes, and told her about the rape. She gave graphic details of the rape, including how one of the men stuck “that dirty thing” with something like milk dripping from it into her mouth and forced her to drink the milk-like liquid. She reeled out the names of the three “uncles” – that is – the pedophilic rapists.

Her aunty was flabbergasted. She confronted the girl’s mother. The mother defended her inaction on the grounds that she has no money and therefore could not afford a “police case”. The aunty provided money for the girl’s medical check up. The doctor’s report attested to a rape. The doctor notified a staff of an NGO and she called the police. The police moved in and arrested the rape suspects and charged them to court.

Oh wow! Splendid, you will think. At last, the pedophiles, in line with the stipulations of the law, will be prosecuted, convicted and consigned to jail where they really belong. With the rapists arrested, the girl’s mother was elated. She was animated by a new sense of relevancy and self confidence. Her self doubt and distrust of the police, lawyers and the legal system all disappeared. In her romantic naiveté, she was enlivened by a new found faith in the Nigerian judiciary system. She rebuffed appeals from different quarters (the families of the rapists, the child’s baby sister and some of her own relatives) to drop the case. She was determined to see the case brought to a conclusive end. And the culprits sentenced to long jail terms for their desecration of her innocent daughter.

Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria
maciln18@yahoo.com
0803 529 2908

The moral degeneration of Nigerian institutions (Part 2)
By Tochukwu Ezukanma
Months later, she was frustrated by lack of progress in the prosecution of the suspects. Crestfallen and confused, it, finally, crystallized to her that Nigerian institutions, including the judiciary and the Church, are Whiten Sepulchers. On paper, their objectives are superb. But in practice, these magnificent objectives are marred by the Nigerian factor: corruption, greed, dishonesty and lawlessness.

The case was flagging. It was repeatedly adjourned. For nearly a whole year, nothing happened as the prosecution was yet to make its case. The problem was that the Public Prosecutor refused to prosecute because she has not “seen the prosecutor” (a euphemism for: she has not bribed the prosecutor).

With the lady broke, and her benefactor (her senior sister) not enthused about the prospect of a protracted legal tussle, she may not be able to bribe the prosecutor. And as such, the case against these bestial rapists may just peter out because a desperately poor woman cannot afford to bribe the public prosecutor. The thought of three sociopaths, who, in their demonic thralldom, sexually abused a six year old girl, going unpunished because a public prosecutor insisted on being bribed before doing his job brought the refrains from one of Fela’s sad songs to my mind: this country na wa a; this country na wa a; this country na wa, a a a.

This woman’s depressing story is an indictment of two of the most powerful national institutions: the Church and the Ministry of Justice. Even, within the confines of the church, trusting and unsuspecting members are routinely deceived and betrayed by their pastors. Was it not in the church that a reckless and feckless man was foisted on her by a fake prophet? The church should be the ultimate sanctuary – a pious bulwark against the forces of evils and depravity – a refreshing contrast to the moral seediness of the Nigerian society – a light that illuminates the paths of believers, if not, the entire nation. Lamentably, in Nigeria, many churches, especially, amongst these one-man owned Pentecostal churches, are well-spring of falsehood, deceit, betrayals, and all forms of evil.

Many of these churches are led by freebooters, deviants, swindlers and all types of questionable characters that realized that it is very lucrative and safe to cheat, deceive and steal under the cover of the church. And that crimes committed under the guise of being a pastor are mostly shielded from public reproof and criminal prosecution. So, they abandoned the dangers, rigors, vagaries and opprobrium of mainstream criminality, and posturing as pastors and prophets, moved their bases of evil activities into the churches.

In these churches, they exercise inconceivable control over the lives of their members and make enormous money. With their gross misrepresentation of the Christian doctrine (prosperity doctrine), they swindle their congregation and justify for their own greed, selfishness and materialism. And with their false prophesies, they deceive and exploit their members, and in addition, frustrate hopes, poop dreams and ruin lives. In all these, instead of reproach and disdain, they earn respect and admiration – at least from their members – and strut to sanctimonious titles: man of God, pastor, prophets, daddy in the Lord, etc.

Like in every other country of the world, there will always be criminals and crimes in Nigeria. The rule of law, social justice and the best criminologist’s formulations cannot totally eliminate crime because there are some individuals who are, intrinsically, criminals and their passion will always remain in killing, stealing and raping.

So, the criminals are less of the problem than the institutions that, supposedly, deter and fight crime and prosecute criminals. The motto of the Nigerian Police Force is “to serve and protect” Nigerians. Despite this high-minded motto, many Nigerians feel intimidated by the police, and even, as crime victims will still deliberately avoid any involvement with the police because the police are unreasonable and corrupt (they extort money from crime victims). So, many crimes are not reported to the police. Did the raped girl’s mother not refuse to report the rape to the police because she could not afford a “police case”

The Ministry of Justice, in all likelihood, has a motto – an inspiring and superlative expression that tersely states its mission. However, like other national institutions, there exist an unbridgeable chasm between this stated mission and the modus operandi of the ministry. Thus, public prosecutors, employed at public expense to prosecute crime suspects and ensure that the guilty are punished, refuse to do their work because they have not been bribed. That a public official sworn to uphold the law, in his venality, has no qualm to (by his inaction) deny justice to two hapless individuals and allow Satan- possessed rapists to walk the street in freedom dramatizes the problems of this country.

The central problem of Nigeria is leadership. It is the corruption, arrogance and contemptuous indifference for the common man of the ruling elite – president and governors – that filtered down through the ministers, commissioners, permanent secretaries, etc, and permeated every facet of government institutions. Therefore, officials in government ministries are corrupt, arrogant and disdainful of the Nigerian masses. No wonder, these institutions operate as merciless enemies of the people; they violate and abuse – thus, figuratively – rape Nigerians. Consequently, the Ministry of Justice that is reputably the hope of the common man degenerated to disreputably the nightmare of the common man.

Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria
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